The customs authority has tightened the operating rules for assessing dutiable value on formula-priced imports: crude priced as a public benchmark such as Brent, multiplied by a differential, then by a quality adjustment factor and finally by the taxable exchange rate, is assessed at the formula result — provided the formula is filed before declaration and the benchmark comes from a verifiable open market. Customs no longer re-values each cargo at the ship level.

This is a concrete win for SNSUC's transit landed-cost accounting. Our external quotation uses the Brent × FX × 7.33 × grade formula, which lines up with the new rule. At declaration we no longer haggle over each cargo's negotiated differential; valuation certainty rises and both working-capital and margin calculations can be done upfront.

The exchange-rate leg, though, sits with the buyer. The taxable rate is the standard rate on the declaration or import date, not the board rate on signing day. With Brent lower and the yuan firmer (USD/CNY at 6.669 today), the formula lands a lower dutiable value than at signing — that gap accrues to the buyer. If the rate moves the other way, cost climbs, and the L/C opening and FX-hedging window has to be timed precisely.

For a structure like SNSUC's, where an offshore SPV signs and an onshore refiner declares, formula-pricing filing standardizes the interface between 'offshore supplier' and 'declaring entity': we fix grade, differential and quality offshore, the refiner files by formula onshore, and the responsibilities split cleanly.